Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for BP (NYSE:BP) Stock Price

BP (NYSE:BPFree Report) had its target price decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $35.00 to $33.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on BP. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of BP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank cut BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.73.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on BP

BP Trading Down 1.2 %

BP stock opened at $29.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a 12-month low of $29.00 and a 12-month high of $40.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.16 and a 200 day moving average of $34.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

BP (NYSE:BPGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. BP’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that BP will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.62%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BP during the 1st quarter worth $6,682,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of BP by 26.7% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $22,727,000 after buying an additional 132,750 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in BP in the second quarter worth about $2,620,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in BP by 860.7% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,086,000 after acquiring an additional 59,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BP by 147.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 43,063 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,555,000 after purchasing an additional 25,690 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About BP

(Get Free Report)

BP p.l.c. provides carbon products and services. The company operates through Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, and Customers & Products segments. It engages in the production of natural gas, and integrated gas and power; trading of gas; operation of onshore and offshore wind power, as well as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage facilities; trading and marketing of renewable and non-renewable power; and production of crude oil.

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